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Okay then..... nevermind. I had one idea in mind, but I don't think it would work. I don't think you can do this without seaming pieces together-- which is going to create a secondary pattern where seams meet. If it's done well, with everything carefully matched up, then most people wouldn't recognize that secondary pattern-- their eyeballs will generally only read the stripes.

You'd need to create the stripes first-- sew enough stripey yardage to make the kite. Sew it into whole cloth, rather than trying to create stripey fabric for individual pieces.

Then you'll need to assemble your pattern into one whole piece. Draw parallel lines over the surface of the flat (whole) pattern. The object is to have at least one line running through each pattern piece because you need that line for directional guidance. So to speak. Now separate your whole pattern back into pieces. You are going to lay your pieces onto the whole cloth, placing the drawn lines parallel to your stripies.

Well I'm not sure what you mean by "painters tape on a shaped sail" I think the deciding factor for me would be - what do I have available or access to?

Easy answer for me, I have projector that can use an opaque picture rather then a transparency although you need to be under very low light. I would project onto a sail, maybe even a paper one and trace or mark out enough reference points that I could complete the design flat on the table. Hmmm .... Wonder where that projector got stored? now that I think about it.

Somebody once told me Ken used a projector to do the Blues Brothers kites to get the perspective right.

« Last Edit: June 20, 2012, 09:48 PM by mikenchico »

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"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see" John W Lennon

"People do not quit playing because they grow old, they grow old because they quit playing" George Bernard Shaw

Although, not on sport kites. I often draw up patterns that go across cellular designs. These surfaces can be (and often are) more complex than a sport kite wing.

I do it all in CAD. I make a 3d model of the kite - which, for graphics layout, can be a simple wire diagram if the sail lays in flat planes; for curved/cupped surfaces, a more detailed surface model needs to be developed.

Anyways - the graphic is drawn in 2D and then dropped onto the 3d model. Works pretty well. I can then flatten out the model (so-to-speak) and print templates.

You do, however, need to decide from which perspective you want the graphic to maintain its flat/2d appearance. Most often this is from the flyer's point of view at 90 degrees to the kite (looking straight on at it) - I have laid out a couple that I wanted the graphic to flow from a slightly different perspective, and that can also be done in CAD by rolling the 3d model before conforming the graphic to it.

Here are a few examples (drawings) - again, templates come with the graphic laid out properly from the models:

I think it is impossible to do, you can be close but the kite would have to be at the same height in the air at the same wind speed at the same distance from the pilot, kinda like watching a car go by there is a point where you see each of the 4 tires on the ground then 3 then 4 again the 3 then 2 then 3 then 4 then 3 again then 4 and finally the car is gone. It was the same car with the same 4 tires the whole time. Nevermind

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